Customer Reviews

Hot Dawg

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was the first David Grisman music I ever heard-- more than 14 years ago-- and I am still in love with this stuff! It is by far my favorite, and no collection of seriously good music is complete without this cd. It is not bluegrass, country, blues or jazz-- it may be hard to find in the record store-- but it is great music that you can listen to over & over. Some parts of it may put you in a romantic mood-- other parts may make you dance. To a serious musician who knows music theory & harmonic progression, it is especially rewarding. It has harmonic and melodic interest and it is fresh and wonderful. I think of David Grisman and his mandolin, and I guess one word I would use is seductive. He is just a master of the instrument, purely and simply. Subtle virtuoso, this man. Give it 3 listens before you decide-- I guarantee it is like nothing you ever listened to before. It defies categorization.

One of the fascinating things about this recording (and most of David Grisman's music) is the way he seamlessly draws on a variety of musical influences to create his own unique sound. One influence that's very clear is the old 1930s Quintet of the Hot Club of France (featuring the incomparable Django Reinhardt on guitar and the equally talented Stephane Grappelli on violin). In fact an aging but still virtuoso Grappelli joins Grisman (mandolin), Tony Rice (one of the most talented acoustic guitarists since the great Django himself), and Mike Marshall (2nd mandolin) for two songs, including a sparkling rendition of the old Hot Club classic, "Minor Swing." The same group (but with Darol Anger replacing Grappelli on violin) shines again on "Dawgology," a great Grisman takeoff on another old Hot Club classic, "Djangology." On top of the acoustic swing music pioneered by Reinhardt and Grappelli in the 1930s, Grisman and Rice add a strong bluegrass element, along with their own unique sound. This is some of the most energetic and creative music you can find, and a lot of fun to listen to. If you aren't already familiar with Grisman and Rice, this CD gives a fine sampling of their music. (Actually you can hardly go wrong with any recordings featuring Grisman and/or Rice.) And if you're interested in checking out some of the remarkable old recordings by Reinhardt and Grappelli, a great place to start is the wonderful collection called "The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order."

I first had a copy of "Hot Dawg" on 8 track many years ago. I later found an lp and will soon upgade to CD form. This is without question an ageless masterpiece. It doesn't matter if you enjoy Bluegrass or not, there is no denying passion in music. I do agree with one reviewer that it's difficult to categorize this as bluegrass. It is a fusion of several influences that meld together like nothing else. It's obvious with a listen or two that all the musicians/artist who contributed had a desire to produce something very special. This album grabbed me from the start. I read back then that David Grisman practiced his Mandolin eight hours a day, and it shows. Grismans' playing is flawless. Include this one in your music collection. It's fun, enegetic and alluring.

Recorded in 1979, this wonderful record almost defies categorisation. Based essentially on the Stephane Grappelli style of fast, complex but highly melodic acoustic jazz it takes this music to a wholly different, more interesting plane. Like Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and John Mayall's "The Turning Point" - neither of which it is, in theory, related to - it's a perfect example of instrumental virtuosity that just flows.

Featuring amazingly complex interactions between David Grisman's "highly strung" mandolin - a truly odd choice for lead instrument - and Tony Rice's beautifully mellow acoustic guitar, the rest of the musicians (including Stephane Grappelli himself on two tracks - "16/16" & "Minor Swing") almost struggle to keep up.

But the speed of the playing is never allowed to dominate or mask the pursuit of melody and atmosphere. Listen to this album too intensely and it's complexity takes over, listen to it too casually and it verges between late 70's LA "lounge jazz" and "mad hatter" Chinese music (that's the mandolin for you). To really enjoy it you need to be doing something else that stops you concentrating too hard but allows you to "tune-in", almost half conciously, to what's going on. So where and how? Choose your favourite car drive, put this CD on repeat play and you've just got some of the most atmospheric cruising music ever made. And, for those special bits with the stunning views, select "Neon Tetra" and "Devlin'" - two of the very best drifting, laid-back, jazz tracks ever made.

The other David Grisman albums I've tried contain good, high quality improvisational jazz but this is in a totally different class... unique, timeless and technically brilliant.

Technical playing with the happy foot tappin' feelin' makes an enjoyable wake up in the morning selection or a loosen up and relax at the end of the day cd. Don't let any label define this, it's a classically fine, rockin, jazz, swingin bluegrass good time!

With a recording career that now extends more than thirty years, this is the David Grisman album that I return to most often. It features like-minded musicians Tony Rice (arguably the finest acoustic guitar player on the planet), violinist Darol Anger, and a variety of bassists including Todd Phillips, Eddie Gomez and Buell Neidlinger. The acoustic jazz--or "dawg" music as Grisman dubbed it--swings like Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. In fact, Grappelli plays violin on "Minor Swing" (a Grapelli/Reinhardt composition) and "16/16" (an original Grisman tune). The entire album swings from beginning to end. This is the place to begin your David Grisman collection. Powerful stuff! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I remember sitting up until midnight to catch the "radio premier" of the Hot Dawg album on WRVR in New York - a lifetime ago it seems. Shortly after I saw them for the first time, sans Grappelli, at the Bottom Line, with an unknown Pierre Bensusan on his first American tour as the opening act.

After Bill Wolf set the bar so high for sheer sound with the previous album, the production on Hot Dawg still seems a little reverb-heavy with some uneven spots in the mix. My fantasy is to hear the tunes on Hot Dawg re-mastered to sound like the first Quintet album. I thought Rice's guitar lacked bottom and warmth - this was before the shocking disclosure that Tony had used an (gasp!) Ovation for some of the solo tracks. I still recall sniffing at those ads he did at the time for them.

Sound aside, "Dawg's Bull" is one of Grisman's arranging highpoints, the triple-mandolin voicings still shimmer. In retrospect, there are strong latin hints of things to come in the middle-samba blowing section of "16-16" as well as "Janice", one of Grisman's most concise and beautiful melodies. Along with the phrygian half-step 6/8 from one of Grisman's most expansive tunes, "Dawgology", there was a lot to chew on, compositionally. The playing was a very fresh sounding fusion of bluegrass pentatonicism with a good dose of swing vocabulary. Darol Anger's "On Broadway" quote from the Devlin' solo still sticks in my mind after all these years.

So what's the gripe? The first DGQ album had a balance and consistency that all true masterpieces have. Perhaps it's unfair to expect a followup to match it, but Hot Dawg always felt more like a great collection of tracks assembled over time rather than a well-conceived album. I could be completely wrong on both counts, and in this age of resequencing and repeating, the point's probably moot. But I guess that's why we all get to write our own reviews.

This is hands down the best acoustic album in the history of music. Nothing, and I mean nothing comes even remotely close. Nothing Grisman did before or after even beings to meet the sheer genius found on this album. The technical proficiency is enough to make your jaw hit the floor, and more stunning is Grisman and company's ability to combine that technical wizardry with compositional brilliance that makes the entire album shine from start to finish. This is music that can be appreciated in a variety of ways, and each time listened is as good as the first. I really can't say enough about this album. It is indeed the greatest acoustic album of all time. Period.

AS SOON AS I HEARD THIS CD I WAS TRANSFORMED BACK TO THE DAYS OF GARCIA AND GRISMAM. IT PUT A SMILE ON MY FACE TO HEAR THE TRACKS ON THIS CD. IF YOU LIKE BELLA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND) THEN YOU WILL LOVE HOT DAWG. THIS IS THE TYPE OF CD YOU WILL ENJOY ON A ROAD TRIP. THE MUSIC GOES THROUGH YOU AS YOU GO FROM CUT TO CUT. AND YOU ARRIVE TO YOUR DESTINATION WITH A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND A GREAT CD TO RECOMMEND TO FRIENDS. PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO PURCHASE THIS CD.

YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY..

Any time Tony Rice and Dave Grisman get together the work is spectacular, and this is no exception. This -- together with the original David Grisman Quintet Album -- are must haves.